The name of Alexander rockwell doesn’t mean anything to you? It’s not entirely surprising but you might be familiar with his work. After the very noticed In The soup and Somebody to Love, he comes back with Sweet Thing, a fine example of the best that independent New York cinema can give.
In a luminous black and white, the filmmaker follows the destiny of a brother and a sister stuck in a dysfunctional family to the point of having no other solution than to run away. Daddy drinks to the point of being interned, Mum has resigned and Step-Dad takes a little too close interest in his very young stepson. “These kids are going to have to grow up too quickly,” says Alexandre Rockwell to 20 minutes. I wanted to film their evolution as closely as possible. “
Ball kids
Alexander Rockwell did not look far to find his youthful performers. Lana, 15, and Nico, 11, who play the sister and brother, are her own children. “But the family in the film has nothing to do with ours,” he comments. We just used to work together since they were little. What was initially an economic choice gave them a taste for the profession of actors. »He had already directed them toddlers in Little feet (2013).
The two young people are doing wonderfully, including in difficult scenes; the one in which Lana gets her hair cut forcibly or when Nico faces a sexual assault. “They are used to being on a set and can perfectly distinguish between fact and fiction. When properly explained, such scenes cannot traumatize them, ”said Alexandre Rockwell.
A family matter
Alexandre Rockwell also reunited his wife Karyn parsons and his friend
Will patton in distribution. “As we had a very small budget, it was comforting to be surrounded by benevolent and accomplice spirits,” he explains. This undoubtedly explains in part the correctness of tone of Sweet Thing, filmed in 16mm, which blurs the line between reality and fiction.
“I also called on some of my students to support me,” he admits. The only way to make independent cinema viable these days is to surround yourself with family and loved ones. »He is lucky to have such an entourage because Sweet Thing seems touched by grace carrying the viewer into a world admittedly dark, but enlightened by the vitality of seeds of exceptionally talented stars.